# My First Homemade Clay Pipe



## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

I found some nice Georgia Clay near the Jacks River, by where I live, and thought I might try my hand at clay pipe-making. This was my first attempt. I shaped it, completely by hand (no mold), and air-dryed it (in the oven at 190 degrees F for 1-hour.) It came out way better than I thought it would. Including drying, it took about 1 hour and 20 minutes from start to finish (not counting the time to collect and process the clay....). I smoked some Mazetec tobacco from P & C in it, and it smokes wonderfully. Nice and cool with no added flavors.

If you want to see how it smokes, I'll post the link to the YouTube video, as soon as it is through processing. I plan on shooting a how-to for YouTube shortly.

A Country Boy Can Survive.......


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## DocBone (Feb 20, 2014)

Very nice, what did you use to help shape the bowl and stem?


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## Scott W. (Jul 10, 2008)

Would love to see the video bro!


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## tmoran (Mar 25, 2014)

That is freakin awesome!


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## 455 Punch (Nov 24, 2013)

Sweet!!!!!!!! Very cool that you made it out of earth that you dug up.


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## Auburnguy (Sep 21, 2014)

Pretty spiffy.


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## p4ttythep3rf3ct (Jan 24, 2015)

Very cool.


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

To make the bowl, I just rolled up a ball of clay, and used the end of a wooden dowel to make the starter hole. Then I used my finger to thin the walls, and make it the size I wanted. This also shapes the bowl. Then I used a smaller dowel to make the hole for the stem, near the bottom. Then I used my fingers to extrude a small button at the bottom to hold the pipe with if it gets hot.

To make the stem, I made a rope of clay, then ran a section of wire coat hanger down the center, and formed the stem around it. I molded the end of the stem to the hole in the bowl that I made for it, and smoothed the joint out.

I set the whole thing on some parchment paper on a cookie sheet and let it air dry for about 10 minutes to set, then I carefully eased out the wire from the stem. Then I gently curved the stem to where I wanted it, made a few final adjustments, and put it in the oven at 200 degrees for 1-hour, turning it every 8 minutes or so, to dry evenly. The clay turns a beautiful bone-greysh white when it is dry. I let it cool, then gave it a test smoke. They smoke cool, with no added flavor at all. I got all of the nuances from the tobacco, even more than with a Missouri Meerschaum. 
That's really all there is to it.

For the clay, I filled a bucket with about 15 pounds of the river clay and brought it home. Then, I got it real soupy by adding lots of water, and poured it through a wire strainer to remove rocks, debris, unwanted little animals (I got several crawfish and aquatic insect larvae in this batch...), then I took another bucket to help me remove impurities. I took a large 1-gallon glass jar (the one I make sauerkraut in...) and filled it halfway with clay., then topped fit off with water and stirred the clay up real good until it was liquid. Then I let it settle for 30 minutes. The clay is heavier than the impurities, and sinks to the bottom. You can see the layers. Then, I carefully poured the water off until the clay started moving towards the jar lip, and I stopped. I repeated this process 3 more times, until there was no more stratification, and all I had was pure grey clay. I repeated this for the rest of the clay, and the 15 pounds I brought home yielded around 9-1/2 pounds of pure creamy grey clay. I placed the whole batch in a large cotton cloth tow-sack, hung it from a tree, and let the clay drain for around 4 hours. That made the clay the perfect consoistency. You could also use commercial air-dry clay (from Hobby Lobby, or wherever), because I'm sure it's the same thing....river mud.

I've made 4 more pipes and all of them are outstanding. One of them, I made a snake head, put the bowl in the rear portion of the head, behind the eyes, and instead of running the wire through the stem, I make a long clay rope, and wrapped it around the wire so it looks like coils. It looks awesome, but my wife (who is an artist) won't let me show it to anyone until she paints more details on it. I also made one in the style of a Peace Pipe. I have coated it with tung oil to see if it seals it. I'll know something shortly. I also knocked out a few smaller 'Cutty"-style pipes.

I made a Church Warden style as well, but these are the most difficult, because the stem is so long and thin. You have to be real careful and gentle. But, on the good side, if you mess up, you can just wad it up, add some more water, and start over. Even if you break one after it's finished and dried (I dropped one tripping over the cat....), you can crumble the pieces, put them in the food processor and turn them into powder, add a little water, and it's clay again.....

And everything cleans up easily with water.

I doesn't take much clay to make a pipe........



DocBone said:


> Very nice, what did you use to help shape the bowl and stem?


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

It's processing on YouTube right now. I am going to make a step-by-step video soon. My wife doesn't want me to, because she says I should be selling them on EBay, or something like that......



Scott W. said:


> Would love to see the video bro!


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## Chris0673 (Aug 20, 2012)

Wait...so you don't fire the pipes? Just dried?


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## penna stogey (Apr 23, 2014)

Well done and congrats. First one off the press as a XM......experimental model. Looking good. PS


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## Scott W. (Jul 10, 2008)

Gigmaster said:


> It's processing on YouTube right now. I am going to make a step-by-step video soon. My wife doesn't want me to, because she says I should be selling them on EBay, or something like that......


Hey, I know how to cut my own lawn but I still pay to have someone do it once in a while. Even Hackert and Balcovec show how they make their pipes. Unless the majority of people you would sell them to have have the time, tools and talent, your market should be pretty safe


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## Branzig (Jul 14, 2013)

Chris0673 said:


> Wait...so you don't fire the pipes? Just dried?


I am curious about this as well...don't you have to fire the pipe to smoke it?

Very neat idea BTW! Really cool!!!


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

The Ebay thing is my wife's idea. I am not that upwardly mobile. I think the information on how to do it is more valuable, myself, but I will probably wind up doing both.



Scott W. said:


> Hey, I know how to cut my own lawn but I still pay to have someone do it once in a while. Even Hackert and Balcovec show how they make their pipes. Unless the majority of people you would sell them to have have the time, tools and talent, your market should be pretty safe


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

Nope. I have just air-dried them in the oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour. I don't have access to a kiln, and I am not sure this type of clay can be fired. I really don't know much about clay, or sculpting or anything. I just know that at one time, people made clay pipes, and probably did not have access to kilns and other modern stuff.

I may try to fire a few if I can find a place that will fire them for me.

I think the downside is that if they are fired, and you break one...it's gone for good. You cannot re-use the clay. The way I am doing it, if you break one (and they are a bit delicate), you can just crumble it up with a hammer, add some water, and it's clay again. Make a new one.



Chris0673 said:


> Wait...so you don't fire the pipes? Just dried?


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

I don't have access to a kiln, and I don't know much about clays or sculpting. I just know that at some point in time, people made clay pipes, and probably didn't have access to modern stuff like kilns. My idea was to make a pipe from a renewable and recyclable resource, so in an emergency, I can still have my smoke.

I am a nut for primitive skills. I make bows, atlatls, sling shots, I flint nap, make blowguns, arrows, spears, sausage, I grind wheat for fresh flour (and other grains, as well), make soy milk from scratch, sauerkraut, etc....Anything I can learn that lets me live off the grid, should I decide to, or have to, is a good thing. I even made a didgeridoo from PVC (and several bows as well). It's a great communication device. I also have made several drums, and am trying to learn how to communicate with them, sort of like an emergency jungle network.

Anyway, the pipes are easy to make, and smoke great. I don't know how long they will last. I have broken a few, but I think it is because I tried to make the stems too thin, and one of them, I just flat dropped. But, as I said earlier, just pulverize them, add water, and they turn back into clay, ready to make a new pipe from. Completely recyclable.



Branzig said:


> I am curious about this as well...don't you have to fire the pipe to smoke it?
> 
> Very neat idea BTW! Really cool!!!


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## Chris0673 (Aug 20, 2012)

@Gigmaster Joel, if you have a fireplace or an outdoor firepit you can fire the pipes (if you want to) that way. Or, get some bricks and make a small kiln. No need for mortar, just stack them into a beehive shape with a hole at the top for smoke and a hole at the bottom for access. Not sure of hot hot or how long. You'd have to experiment, but it sounds like that's right up your alley anyway! I might see if I can liberate some clay from the Art building this spring and try this myself!


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

I have made several pipes and test smoked them, and they all smoke wonderfully, It seems like you get more smoke, more flavor from the tobacco, and more room-note with these. I don't know why, but they are a very enjoyable 25-30 minute smoke.

I thought I would try to make me a ceremonial pipe (I make my own knick-knik as well), Native American-style. Here is the result:










Now, I can just add some color, a few designs, a hanging feather or two, and it should be good to go.


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## gtechva (Mar 9, 2014)

That is very cool Joel. Seems like I read if they are glazed and fired they are less likely to break. Either way it's neat.


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## Gigmaster (Jan 12, 2009)

They probably are. I need to either find somebody to fire them, or build me a kiln and learn how to do it. I'd like to start making pottery and cookware as well. 

But, is is nice to know that in an emergency, if you can find some tobacco, you can still have a pipe.


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## Chris0673 (Aug 20, 2012)

Gigmaster said:


> But, is is nice to know that in an emergency, if you can find some tobacco, you can still have a pipe.


Truth!


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